- Onyema says Minister told the entire world Air Peace leased the planes to make them look bad and praise his partner, Ethiopian Air.
- Hadi Sirika said Air Peace leased two Boeing 777 aircraft every month for $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months, and incurred losses of $19 million.
- Onyema adds Sirika signed the import permits for those aircraft, stating you cannot import any aircraft without approval from the Minister of Aviation, citing that he always knew the planes were not rented but fully paid for.
The Founder and Chief Executive of Air Peace Nigeria, Allen Onyema, in a recent interview with Arise TV, strongly denied the allegations made by former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, regarding the leasing of Boeing-777s by Air Peace.
In an interview with Arise TV, Onyema alleged that it was the Minister himself who approved the import application for the aircraft, and each application clearly states whether the aircraft is for lease or rent. He accused the Minister of spreading false information to commend his Ethiopian Air partners.
In a separate interview, Hadi Sirika alleged that Air Peace was leasing two Boeing 777 aircraft every month for $250,000, resulting in significant financial losses of $19 million as the aircraft remained parked for several months.
Peddling Falsehood
Onyema stated that he is not here to fight a battle with the ex-Minister, adding it is not in his DNA to pick fights, he added:
- “But it is very shameful for an ex-Minister and Lawmaker, and expected to be the chief marketer of the sector to come to say indirectly or directly that an airline he supervised is so incompetent that leads to a graft and incurring $19 million, and he was saying it, and peddling falsehood, and never blinked and speaking as a matter of fact.”
- “Imagine the damage he might have done to the image and reputation of air peace, meanwhile was peddling pure falsehood, and how do you now believe any other thing he said?
Aircraft Fleet
He noted that Air Peace does not own 2 Boeing-777s, revealing that they own 3 that were purchased, 2 were ex emirates and 1 ex Singapore, adding:
- “Therefore, we never paid a leased rent, and you can’t use $250,000 to rent a 777,
- “This is a minister trying to fool the entire nation in a desperate bid to hoodwink the nation, how do we as a nation believe any other thing he is saying?
Minister orders
He also added that no aircraft enters Nigeria without the approval of the minister, so he did all that and knew quite well that those planes were not rented, he said:
- “You can contact the NCAA, they are the regulators, and he was in charge, he signed the import permits of those aircraft, you cannot import any aircraft without approval from the Minister of Aviation if it was going to be a lease, it is stated in the letter of application.
- “No aircraft enters into Nigeria without the approval of the minister, so he did all that and knew quite well that those planes were not rented and fully paid for, and he told the entire world we leased the planes to make us look bad and praise his partners, Ethiopian air.
Backstory
During his interview, Hadi Sirika alleged that Air Peace leased two Boeing 777 aircraft every month for $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months, and incurred losses of $19 million.
He added that the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when it was ready to fly.
But Air Peace described the claim as a “blatant lie,” saying that the airline had three B777 aircraft as against two alleged by Sirika.
The airline insisted that it never leased or rented the aircraft, but purchased them outrightly. In the same vein, the company denied that it incurred any losses as claimed by Sirika, challenging him to make enquiries from the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) on the purchase and ownership of the aircraft. Part of a statement by the company said:
- “Secondly, Sirika said the airline stopped flying to Dubai because ‘we lack capacity’. This is another stark lie.
- “Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of lack of capacity. Air Peace commenced operations in the UAE in July 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE Government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.
- “Neither Emirates nor Air Peace is operating the Nigerian/UAE route since the ban. The persisting non-issuance of visas and the accompanying inconveniences necessitated the suspension of our Dubai operation.”
